[dianaiad]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by dianaiad on Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:31 pm

Hi Mike,

I'm going back for a PhD in education: instructional technology and curriculum design. The idea is that, no matter how messed up my immune system might be, I can still teach, and enjoy that teaching, online.

As for my trike, I love it. I get such ... INTERESTING ... looks when I'm out on it!

And some of those looks are actually jealous.

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by Nancy Shamanna on Mon Jan 12, 2015 10:04 pm

Congrats Dianalad, on your new educational studies for a PhD. And also have fun on your new bike. I have seen three wheeled 'recumbent' bikes, but not one as you have described. Will have to watch out for one on the bike pathways. I think it's awesome that you are thinking ahead to a new career now, online too!

[mikeb]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by mikeb on Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:03 pm

Hi dianaiad,

Excellent! Good luck with your Ph.D. work. Sounds like some interesting topics, and sounds like teaching online is a good "backup" plan.

And I got a chuckle from your comment about getting interesting looks when you ride your trike. My wife has a recumbent bike. When we ride together on bike trails around here, I like to follow her so that I get more time to see the interesting looks she gets.

Have fun!

Mike

[Kevin J]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by Kevin J on Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:40 pm

Dianaiad,

Sounds like a great bike. A fair amount of my biking is done on rails-to-trails systems throughout Michigan, and two of my favorite things to see are people riding restored old bikes (or the newer retro-looking bikes), or families out with their kids riding together and getting exercise. I would love to see a picture of your bike.

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by Ron Harvot on Mon Mar 16, 2015 2:49 pm

Goal Setting for CY 2015

I have officially recovered from my valve replacement surgery last August. My cardiologist took me off of the beta blocker and said I have no limitations. So I am training more vigorously. The last few weeks have been tougher to ride outside, so I have been doing a lot of work on my indoor trainer.

Now that spring is on the way I thought I would set some goals:

• Hit the 6,000 mile mark for the first time – This will be tough, as I only have a little over 800 miles so far and will be going to Italy in May to watch the Giro (Tour of Italy) bike race (and also do some site seeing).
• Complete two ultra races (two-man, 12-hour team).
• Break 6 hours in the Hotter n Hell 100-mile rally in August

For those who don’t know about ultra racing, here is a link to the Texas Time Trials, which is one of the races I intend to compete in. There is a tab under “Race Series” that lists the Texas Ultra Cup Challenge and races for the year. All of these can be qualifiers for the Race Across America, if you are able to do the max distances solo within the allotted time (well beyond my abilities).

Ron

[goldmine848]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by goldmine848 on Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:47 pm

Ambitious goals. Good luck Ron.

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by Ron Harvot on Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:50 am

Andrew,

Thanks – that means a lot coming from someone who did 8,000 miles after having a SCT!!

What do you intend to hit this year? I know that the weather in Pennsylvania has been brutal this winter, so outdoor miles have probably been hard to get in.

In Texas, we are spoiled and I do not have the winter gear necessary to ride when it gets real cold. I draw the line at the mid 30s [about 0 C] with dry pavement.

[goldmine848]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by goldmine848 on Wed Mar 18, 2015 7:59 am

Ron,

Interestingly, what has cut my miles so far this year is the ice. Cold I can deal with, but when I go on the trail where I do my cold weather riding and it is ice-covered, it's just too dangerous.

Since I use multiple bikes, I am not sure of my mileage so far this year, but I think it's probably about 400 miles. I am retiring April 9, so even though I probably will do some part-time work, I should have more time to ride. I don't usually set goals, other than to best the prior year, but I also would like to top my prior high of 9300. It's all dependent on health, so I'm trying not jinx myself.

[K_Shash]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by K_Shash on Wed Mar 18, 2015 8:00 am

Ron,

I am sure you can meet your goals. Your energy level and passion for cycling are amazing!
Have a wonderful time in Italy.

K_Shash

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Biking with multiple myeloma

by Ron Harvot on Thu Apr 16, 2015 12:41 am

Race report:

This past Saturday, a biking buddy from my bike club and I did the 2 man 12-hour time trial known as the Bessie's Creek 24 Ultra race. I did this 2 years ago with at different teammate and last year did it solo. However, this was the first competitive cycling I have done since my valve replacement surgery. The race was in Brookshire, Texas, which is about 50 miles west of Houston. We came from the Dallas area, so we drove the 4.5 hour trip on Friday. The race was starting at 7:00 am and ended at 7:00 pm. We got to our hotel and the weather was threatening but was not then raining. We decided to get in a practice lap on Friday. The course is a 21.3 mile loop and is generally flat with only a modest 3% grade on the back side between mile mark 18-20. We did the practice lap in 1 hour 9 min or 18.35 mph.

For the race, our original plan was to alternate laps and pace ourselves so that we could have something left for the late laps. We were targeting 10 laps, or 5 each. Therefore we were going to have to maintain an average team speed of 17.8 mph. However, there was rain in the forecast for the afternoon. So we decided to alter the plan and go out fast and get in as many miles as possible before the rain hit. We knew once it rained we would loose speed.

My buddy, who is also named Ron, scorched the first lap in an hour flat or 21.3 mph. He is 11 years younger than me and cancer free. He has been riding for many years. I did respectable times and after 6 laps our average speed was about 19 mph. I hit physical and mental wall on lap 4 as my speed fell to 15.8 mph. My partner hit a physical wall and bonked on the back side of lap 5 and declared he was finished. I had a mental recovery and dug deep doing the last lap in 17.9 mph. Since we had 20 min to go I was able to start lap 6 and got in 6 more miles before the time expired.

All in all we did a total of 218.3 miles at an average team speed of 18.2 mph. That was good enough for us to win our category!! I personally did a total of 112.5 miles of the total.
Was physical and mentally spent but felt an emotional high. We celebrated with a pizza dinner and a couple of cold beers then went to bed!!

Ron